VMware polled almost 1,200 insiders and found that companies with mobile IT programs enjoyed a return on investment (ROI) of almost 150 percent, according to Datamation. The findings were good across the board: The respondents see mobilized employees as more effective, and mobility makes new revenue streams easier to find and heightens the ability to “connect with and satisfy customers.”
A downbeat finding was that only 20 percent of companies have moved a core business process to a mobile model. During the next year, however, 63 percent plan to do so. Part of the process will be upgrading infrastructure (77 percent said they plan to do so), adding customer-facing apps (70 percent), and rebuilding crucial apps for mobile employees (69 percent).
ARM Works to Secure the IoT
Good news and bad news from ARM, which is including its TrustZone security in the microcontrollers that are used on the Internet of Things (IoT).
Network World describes TrustZone as “a hardware isolation technology that carves out a separate area on a chip where trusted code can run.” TrustZone, which has been used in Samsung’s Knox technology, theoretically provides a secure place where the most sensitive code can be executed.
The bad news? ARM licensees shipped about 4 billion microcontrollers without TrustZone last year.
Thread Group Moves to Certification Phase
The Thread Group has launched a product certification program for the Thread 1.0 specification, which was released in July. The group, which seeks to interconnect IoT endpoints in the home using the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, already has more than 30 products awaiting certification validation.
The press release says that the products will be validated for their behavior during commissioning, security and operation in a Thread Network.
The IoT Big, Getting Bigger
Gartner says that there will be 6.4 billion IoT-connected objects in 2016. That would represent a 30 percent increase from this year. The increases will continue, and the number of connected devices will reach 20.8 billion in 2020.
The story also mentions a study from IDC that sees a worldwide market that will grow from $655.8 billion last year to $1.7 trillion in 2020, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.9 percent. Devices, connectivity and IT services will lead the parade:
Together, those three are estimated to account for over two-thirds of the worldwide IoT market in 2020, with devices (modules and sensors) alone representing nearly a third of the total, although the forecast predicts purpose-built platforms, application software, and “as-a-service” offerings would capture a larger percentage of revenue by 2020.
Looking Backward
Tech sites almost always look ahead. IT Business Edge is no different. It is important, however, to look backward once in a while.
Monday was the 101st anniversary of the birth of Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler. Kiesler was born in Austria and fled to escape the Nazis. She went to Hollywood, changed her name to Hedy Lamarr, and became one of the biggest stars of the era.
It’s an interesting story. But what does it have to do with technology? Quite a bit, actually, as 2Paragraphs points out:
But Lamarr was much more than a movie star. She was also an inventor, and during World War II she and composer George Antheil invented a secret communications device that used ‘frequency hopping’ to make it harder for Germany to jam radios. The same technology is in use today in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, according to Lamarr’s biographer, Richard Rhodes.
Lamarr, who died in 2000, was married and divorced six times. She had an interesting life, to say the least.
Carl Weinschenk covers telecom for IT Business Edge. He writes about wireless technology, disaster recovery/business continuity, cellular services, the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine communications and other emerging technologies and platforms. He also covers net neutrality and related regulatory issues. Weinschenk has written about the phone companies, cable operators and related companies for decades and is senior editor of Broadband Technology Report. He can be reached at cweinsch@optonline.net and via twitter at @DailyMusicBrk.
